Faiz Ahmad Faiz was a Pakistani poet and author of Urdu and Punjabi literature. Faiz was one of the most celebrated, popular, and influential Urdu writers of his time and his works and ideas remain widely influential today in Pakistan and beyond. Outside of literature, he has been described as "a man of wide experience" having worked as a teacher, army officer, journalist, trade unionist, and broadcaster.
Major General Aboobaker Osman MithaHJ SQA TPk, popularized as A.O. Mitha, was a Pakistan Army general who is considered a legend in the Pakistan Army, and a "stay behind" conceptual founder of Special Services Group (SSG). With the help from the United States' Special Forces, he created the special forces unit in Cherat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 1956.
Lieutenant General Hamid GulHI(M) SI(M) SBt was a three-star rank army general in the Pakistan Army and defence analyst. Gul was notable for serving as the Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, between 1987 and 1989. During his tenure, Gul played an instrumental role in directing ISI support to Afghan resistance groups against Soviet forces in return for funds and weapons from the US, during the Soviet–Afghan War, in co-operation with the CIA.
Christianity is the third largest religion in Pakistan, making up about 1.27% of the population according to the 2017 Census. Of these, approximately half are Catholic and half Protestant. A small number of Eastern Orthodox Christians, and Oriental Orthodox Christians also live in Pakistan.
In 2023, Freedom House rated Pakistan’s human rights at 37 out 100.
Begum Kulsoom Nawaz Sharif was a Pakistani politician who had been the first lady of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms; from 1990 to 1993, 1997 to 1999 and then from 2013 to 2017. She was the President of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) from 1999 to 2002.
Maryam Nawaz Sharif, also known as Maryam Safdar, is a Pakistani politician and the daughter of former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif. In 2012, she entered politics and was put in charge of the election campaign of PML-N during the 2013 general elections. After the elections, she was appointed the Chairperson of the Prime Minister's Youth Programme. However, she resigned in 2014 after her appointment was criticised by Imran Khan on the basis of nepotism and her degree being challenged in the Lahore High Court.
Religious discrimination in Pakistan is a serious issue for the human rights situation in modern-day Pakistan. Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Shias, and Ahmadis among other religious minorities often face discrimination and at times are even subjected to violence. In some cases Christian churches and the worshippers themselves have been attacked. Khawaja Nazimuddin, the 2nd Prime Minister of Pakistan, stated: "I do not agree that religion is a private affair of the individual nor do I agree that in an Islamic state every citizen has identical rights, no matter what his caste, creed or faith be".
Mehnaz, known professionally as Gul Panra, is a Pakistani folk singer and touring artist, mainly associated with Pashto language music industry. Her live concerts are famous in Pakistan and she has also performed in the United Kingdom and Afghanistan. She has been serving as a brand ambassador of her home cricket team Peshawar Zalmi in Pakistan Super League, and has sung several anthems for the team since its inception in 2016.
Mira Sethi is a Pakistani actress and writer. The daughter of journalists Najam Sethi and Jugnu Mohsin, she attended Lahore Grammar School and Cheltenham Ladies' College then graduated from Wellesley College in 2010; she spent her junior year abroad at the University of Oxford. At Wellesley, she studied English and South Asian studies, and, at her 2010 graduation, was the student commencement speaker. Sethi was a Robert L. Bartley fellow and an assistant book editor at The Wall Street Journal and also contributed in political commentary for the newspaper, particularly on the subject of Pakistan. Her career at the Journal lasted about two and a half years.
Naseemullah, better known as Naqeebullah Mehsud, was killed on 13 January 2018 in Karachi, Pakistan, during a fake encounter staged by the senior superintendent of police (SSP) of Karachi's Malir District, Rao Anwar. On 3 January, Naqeebullah was kidnapped along with two of his friends, Hazrat Ali and Muhammad Qasim, by Rao Anwar's men in plainclothes from Gulsher Agha Hotel in Karachi. On 6 January, both of his friends were freed by the police, but Naqeebullah was kept in captivity, tortured, and then killed on 13 January in a fake encounter in which he was shot twice in the back. Alongside Naqeebullah, three other men namely Muhammad Sabir and Muhammad Ishaq from Bahawalpur and Nazar Jan Mahsud from South Waziristan were also killed by the police in the staged encounter, the latter of whom was shot from a close range. On 17 January, Naqeebullah's dead body was handed over to his relatives at the Chhipa Welfare Association morgue in Karachi. On 18 January, his body was taken by his relatives to Tank, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where Islamic funeral prayer was performed for him, and on the same day, he was buried at his hometown Makeen, South Waziristan. The fake encounter sparked countrywide protests against extrajudicial killings in Pakistan.
The Pashtun Tahafuz Movement is a social movement for Pashtun human rights based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces of Pakistan. It was founded in May 2014 by eight students in Dera Ismail Khan. On 1 February 2018, the name of the movement was changed from "Mahsud Tahafuz Movement" to "Pashtun Tahafuz Movement."
Aima Noor-ul Ain Baig is a Pakistani singer. She is known for her appearances on Dunya News' program Mazaaq Raat from 2015 to 2017. She rose to fame from her songs in Lahore Se Aagey (2016), after which she gained popularity through many other soundtracks and her appearance in Coke Studio. She was awarded Tamgha-e-Fakhre-Imtiaz in August 2019.
Terrorist incidents in Pakistan in 2018 include:
Zartaj Gul is a Pakistani politician who served as Minister of State for Climate Change, in Imran Khan ministry from 5 October 2018 until 10 April 2022 when Imran Khan was ousted by a no-confidence motion. She remained a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan between August 2018 and January 2023.
Muhammad Ali Wazir is a Pakistani politician who is the co-founder of a human rights movement, Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM). He has been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since August 2018. During his student life, he was active in the Pashtun Students Federation (PSF), an allied wing of the Awami National Party (ANP).
The Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) has held public gatherings and marches at various places, including Bajaur, Bannu, Chaman, Charsadda, Dera Ismail Khan, Islamabad, Karachi, Khyber, Killa Saifullah, Lahore, Loralai, North Waziristan, Peshawar, Quetta, South Waziristan, Swabi, Swat, Tank, Zhob in Pakistan, as well as in several Western countries, including Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, and the United States.
Ahmad Waqass Goraya is a Pakistani-born activist and blogger based in the Netherlands. He is among several Pakistani bloggers and authors overseas who are critics of the Pakistan Army who have been persecuted, tortured and threatened. They include Salman Haider, Gul Bukhari, and others.
Imran Riaz Khan is a Pakistani YouTuber of PTI.
